


By Any Other Name

by WolfenM



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Whedonverse - Fandom
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, F/M, Horror, Introspection, Missing Scene, Revenge, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3687441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfenM/pseuds/WolfenM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place in the year 1880, shortly after Spike is made a vamp, as per the ep "A Fool In Love", from the fifth season of <i>Buffy</i>. It answers the question of just how exactly Spike got his name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> This is an oooooold fic (though I've tweaked it since the original posting circa 2003). It won "best overall fanfic" in Dragon*Con's 2003 Buffy Track Fanfic Contest.
> 
>  **DISCLAIMER** : Spike / William the Bloody, Drusilla, and Cecily © Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and Mutant Enemy.

William was a man of his times, to be certain. He just wasn't a very _good_ one.

He'd fallen in love with a woman who epitomized the ideals of his contemporaries. Poise. Beauty. A certain standoffishness that was often called "an air of aristocracy". Well-bred, well-educated, well-mannered (as far as ettiquette was concerned, anyway). Cecily was a jewel well out of his reach.

 _Was_. Not anymore.

William had strived at, but never achieved, being all that a man of his times was expected to be. Intelligent — well, all right, that, at least, he succeeded in. Otherwise, he failed miserabley at being charming, dashing, witty, graceful. He was too sweet, too gentle, too honest.

One day all that changed.

Well, not all of it. He was still blindingly honest. (At least, he was when it suited him to be, and painful truths could be so much fun!) And he was still honorable, oddly enough.

Otherwise, it was as if becoming a vampire had been a long sought-after key, one that unlocked a dark nature deep inside him. Or perhaps it had never been there before, was only newly installed. In any case, he was now closer than ever to being all the things a man of his times was expected to be, if not spoken of in such terms. Strong. Cruel. Sarcastic. Sadistic. Lewd. Deadly. Cunning. He also developed an astonishingly large ego when he'd once been sure he had none. And had become utterly charming.

He'd lost all traces, though, however small they might have been, of two traits that would have served him well had he still sought to join high society: cowardice and self-centredness (he was still selfish, to be certain, but Dru was now the center of his universe, not himself).

All these changes were a gift from his very new love of just a few days or so, Drusilla. She'd killed him, and in doing so had given him a new lease on life. No one was more surprised than he was at how quickly he became acclimated to this new existence, one that was almost a polar opposite of what he'd once been. He was eager to show off to his friends — but not even he was sure if that meant his old ones or his new ones.

"There's a party tonight, love. Wanna go? There'll be lots of tasty snacks ...."

Drusilla giggled. William had quickly adapted the slur of an unsavory in his speech. She'd said his total transformation from dainty poof to dark prince was her finest work yet; she was very proud of him. "Will I get to meet all your friends?" she asked.

He grabbed her by the waist and drew her in close. "Intimately."

 

***

Luckily, William had received an invitation for this party before he'd died, one that also stated he could bring a guest of his choice. There was none of the nasty unpleasantness of trying to find a way around the "must be invited" clause in the vampire rulebook. He was worried for a moment when they were stopped by the doorman, but he'd managed to clean himself up enough that he was "passable". It wasn't unusual for some of the guests to be a bit disheveled, especially if they had been drinking before even arriving. The man sniffed disapprovingly when Will refused to let him take his coat.

A number of the guests regarded him and his escourt with distaste. He wasn't sure if that was simply because of how he looked, or if it was because of who he was. He didn't really care. He was after a particular prey tonight, a herd of elegant deer amidst rabbits that would barely whet his appetite. Dru eyed the rabbits mournfully as they passed, but he assured her the main course would more than make up for having to pass up the hors d'oerves.

And then his keen new eyes espied them. They were huddled out in the sun room, fine stags trying to win the attraction of succulents does.

His grip tightened about one of the long bits of metal in his coat pocket. He could almost feel his eye teeth fighting to grow. Not yet. He didn't want to scare his prey away by making the wolf's presence known prematurely.

As he approached, one stag on the farther side of the circle spotted him. "William!" The group turned as if one entity, a mix of surprise and disgust on their collective faces. His former love looked especially like she was viewing a duel or a bad carriage accident; she obviously wanted to look away, but was too curious to stop staring.

"We thought you'd been robbed and dumped in a gutter!" one of the women laughed. "Guess they forgot to make sure you were dead first!" added her male companion. "Who's your friend?" asked another man, who eyed Dru like he was sizing up a whore for sale.

The first man was the one who'd told Will that he'd rather have a railroad spike driven through his head than listen to William's poetry; this party was for him. in celebration of his birthday.

Dru spoke to Cecily. "Aren't you the sad one? You let pretty William get away, and now I've caught him, and won't ever let him go!"

Cecily gave the strange girl an incredulous look. " _Him?!?_ You can _have_ him, dearie!"

Dru pouted. "I'm not a deer, I'm a wolf. _You're_ the deer ...."

William realized he needed to get things moving before she vamped out prematurely. "Thomas, I can't stay long, I just came to give you your gift."

Thomas snorted. "A gift? Please tell me you didn't bring a coin you found on your little excursion in the gutter!" The other deer laughed, Cecily loudest of all.

William smiled unpleasantly. "Well, I was going to write you a poem, but then I remembered that you don't _like_ my poetry. Said you'd rather have a railroad spike in your head, as I recall." William pulled a spike from his pocket.

The deer laughed, granting William a bemused look. He knew what they were thinking: this was most unlike him! They were intrigued.

Thomas laughed with them, and shook his head. "Who _are_ you? You couldn't be our dull little William!"

William smiled. And drove the spike right through Thomas's ear.

"You're right, I'm not." He turned to face the rest of the circle, deer that were too frightened to move. "I'm _Spike_ " he told them with a predatory grin. He turned back to the fresh corpse on the floor. "'Appy birthday, bloke!"

Dru clapped happily. "Oh, Bravo, Bravo!"

The does screamed and fainted. The stags tried to leave, but Dru and Spike quickly caught and subdued them, knocking them all out cold in the process. The rest of the drugged and drunken revelers, outside the room, were oblivious. Spike closed the door and locked it, to make sure it stayed that way. Dru pulled out the rope she had hidden under her skirts, and they began to tie everyone up. They ripped strips from the does' fine gowns to gag them all.

The herd began to revive. One of the does began to faint again, but Dru slapped her awake. "Naughty, naughty, it's rude to nod off during a performance!"

Spike gave Dru an affectionate kiss on the head. He pointed to her and addressed the herd. "I love this gel! _She_ appreciates me! _She_ knows artistry!" He pulled out the spikes he had stored in his coat. "Well, you'll _all_ learn to appreciate my art tonight."

He began reciting poems he'd written when he was still alive. As he did, he rammed the spikes through one eardrum of each member of the herd, but not far enough to kill them. Cecily he left alone. "Now, shall I finish the job, so you won't have to hear my awful poetry anymore — or the screams of your friends, for that matter?" he laughed. "Or shall I let Dru here have a snack?" He began to recite again.

"Oh she's a rare one,  
my carnivourous belle  
That's how she likes her meat:  
uncooked, for my queen of Hell ...."

"Well, I don't see why we cant have our cake and eat it too!" He shoved a spike into the other ear of one of the does, so she was completely deaf. "Go ahead, love!" he told Dru.

Dru squealed with delight. "'E's such a gentleman! Ladies first!" And she sank her teeth into the doe.

Spike made the rounds of the group, ridding the herd of their remaning eardrums. Again, all save Cecily.

He knelt before her, and forced her to look at him. "I think I'll give you a kiss ...."

He took her in his arms tenderly, and pressed his lips to her neck. As he drank her, he reflected that his first (and possibly last) kiss with her was far more intoxicating than even his imagination at it's most fanciful had come up with — and yet Dru's had been far sweeter still.

He didn't kill Cecily, though, instead pulling back to look her in the eye. Cecily gave him a look of utter hatred.

"Don't you understand, Cecily? I can make you live forever! Your beauty preserved for eternity! What could THEY —" he gestured to the fallen stags "— give you to equal _that_?"

He removed the gag. She spat at him. "You're a _monster!_ "

He felt his passion grow as cold as his blood then. "Am I? No more than you or your friends, my dear, with your snide remarks, your cutting twists of phrase, your petty entertainments. Don't think words can't kill, my dear. She," he gestured to Dru, who was now feeding on her third victim, "may have ended my mortality, but  _you_ killed me." He considered her a moment. "You once said I was beneath you." He pushed her back against the ground and straddled her. "Looks like it's the other way 'round t'me. Now I'll ask you again. Do you want to live with me forever, or die?"

"I cannot bear to look at your face _now_ , never mind eternity!"

He sighed. "Well, I can see to it that you never have to see my face again," he assured her.

With that, he drove his last two spikes deep into her eyes.

END

**Author's Note:**

> If you've enjoyed my writing, I invite you to explore my original fantasy storyverse, [Gaiankind](http://gaiankind.com)! You can even find Gaiankind stories for free [here](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Gaiankind) on AO3!


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